Note 1342 — Chapter XVI · A CENTURY AND A QUARTER OF MARRIAGE LEGISLATION IN THE UNITED STATES, 1776-1903
Reading edition
In Kentucky marriages are void or voidable when not solemnized or contracted in the presence of an authorized person or society; but they are not so invalid if consummated with the belief of the parties or either of them that they have been lawfully married: Wright, Report, 39.
The Louisiana act of 1807 makes one who is deaf and dumb from "nativity" incapable of marriage, "unless it be previously proved to the satisfaction of the judge ... that such person is capable of giving a rational consent." So also "criminals definitively sentenced to death" are incapable until pardoned; and "persons sentenced to whipping, imprisonment, pillory, or other infamous punishment" are prohibited from marrying, "until such punishment has been inflicted, or the offender pardoned."—Lislet, Gen. Digest (1828), II, 4, 5.